Despite a late comeback by Boston, PWHL New York captured its second consecutive win, powered by an overtime goal from Alex Carpenter in a 2-1 victory. Corinne Schroeder just missed her second shutout of the season, allowing one goal on 35 shots faced.
What happened?
A few lineup notes: Abby Cook made her debut with Boston after being traded there this past week. Boston also activated Samantha Isbell from the reserves, signing her to a 10-day standard contract. New York activated Jill Saulnier off long-term injured reserve, reverting Alexa Gruschow back to a reserve contract in a corresponding move.
After a strong start by New York, Boston found their legs and at one point had five or six consecutive shots on net. New York, however, came back the other way and scored first when Emma Woods beat Aerin Frankel with 5:01 left in the first period. With a lot of traffic in front, a loose puck despite Frankel trying to cover it off a rebound and a bit of a scramble all around, Woods jumped on it and stuffed it in along the post. Madison Packer recorded her first point of the season with an assist on the opening goal.
Boston really dominated the second period, getting chance after chance but not finding the back of the net. A new top line featuring Hilary Knight, Jamie Lee Rattray and Susanna Tapani was impressive, but couldn't get it done. At one point, Knight found her own rebound off the side of the net but didn't score. Knight and Tapani nearly buried a chance off a loose puck in front later in the period. Megan Keller had a few great opportunities, too. Boston doubled New York in shots in the period (by a 14-7 margin) but Corinne Schroeder was key in keeping everything out.
Woods' first-period goal continued to stand as the third period went on, despite (again!) Boston outshooting and out-chancing New York as the clock wound down. Ella Shelton came up with what could've been the play of the game late, sweeping the puck off the goal line behind Schroeder after it popped up and over her. She kept Boston off the board then, but it didn't last long; Megan Keller tied it with 1:04 to play in regulation. Keller carried the puck across the ice, then blasted a shot from above the face-off circle to Schroeder's right that found the top right corner of the net.
Overtime featured chances on both sides, including Shelton at one end and Tapani almost immediately at the other. Finally, with 2:32 to play Alex Carpenter won it for New York in front of many family and friends in Lowell. Carpenter got a cross-ice pass from Jaime Bourbonnais, then took a shot and beat the goaltender clean with a perfect top-shelf shot over Frankel's right shoulder.
Three up, three down
↑ OT on the road is sweet – Boston certainly isn't the first PWHL team to let a home ice opportunity slip away. New York has won five of its seven road games. Looking at the league as a whole, road teams are 8-2 in overtime. That record jumps to 9-2 if you include shootouts. Through 30 games, road teams are 19-11 as a whole.
↓ Losing time – Boston is currently on a three-game losing streak, with their last win coming back on January 27 in overtime against Minnesota. They're inevitably going to find their stride at some point, and that will likely coincide with players like Hilary Knight finding the net, too. Knight has just two points, including one goal. You just know she's itching to find more goals; she's an incredibly talented scorer who just has to get it locked in.
↑ Alex Carpenter – With her game-winning goal, Alex Carpenter has regained sole possession of the PWHL's scoring lead. She now has 12 points, including six goals, in 10 games. She's also been dominant in face-offs, where she's won 61.1 percent of the draws - best among players who have taken a bulk of face-offs this season. In addition, she leads the league with two overtime goals; only Minnesota's Grace Zumwinkle (3) has more game-winning tallies.
↓ No home-ice advantage – Boston continues to struggle on home ice this season, with just one win in six games. They've played a bulk of their games at Tsongas Center this season, with just three road games so far, but haven't been able to take advantage of home ice, which has helped put them near the bottom of the PWHL.
↑ Corinne Schroeder – It's impossible to say enough about New York goaltender Corinne Schroeder, who came very close to her second shutout of the season. Schroeder stopped 34 of 35 shots and had a strong game, despite allowing Boston the tying goal late in regulation. She now has a 5-2-0 record with a 1.83 GAA and .947 save percentage and is arguably the best starting goaltender in the PWHL.
↓ So no face-off stats? – I was really pleased to see individual face-off stats compiled in Friday's game between Toronto and Montreal, but it appears that isn't the new norm. Sure, you can still manually calculate them based on the game scoresheet (which I've been doing here and there throughout the season), but it was really nice to not have to do that for one game. Let's hope it'll be the standard soon. The league is tracking individual face-off stats, as they're recorded in the general player stats, just not by each game.
VP's Player of the Game
Emma Woods - Woods had the opening goal of the game for New York and also recorded a secondary assist on Carpenter's overtime game-winner. She now has four points this season, having literally doubled her points total in Saturday's game. Here's another look at her goal:
THAT FIST PUMP HAS US FIRED UP IN BOSTON. pic.twitter.com/HGTFZFT98q
— PWHL New York (@PWHL_NewYork) February 17, 2024
(Photo: Michael Riley/PWHL)
